Caster.



E. H. HUMPHREY.

GASTEE.

APPLICATION FILED JULY 2, 1909.

Patenfied Apr. 19,1910.

UNITE STATES PATENT OFFICE.

c EDWIN HALL HUMPHREY, OF COREY, PENNSYLVANIA, ASSIGNOR 0F ONE-HALF T0NATHAN S. COVEY, OF COREY, PENNSYLVANIA.

GASTER.

Specification of Letters Patent.

Patented Apr. 19, 1910.

Application filed July 2, 1909. Serial No. 505,687.

To all whom it'mcy concern:

Be it known that I, EDWIN HALL HUM- rnnEY, a citizen of the UnitedStates, residing at Corry, in the county of- Erie and State ofPennsylvania, have invented a new and useful Caster, of which thefollowing is a specification.

It is the object of the present invention to provide an improvedconstruction of furniture caster, and the invention aims, primarily, toprovide a construction of caster which will be valuable commercially.

Incidentally, the invention aims to provide a caster which may bereadily formed; from sheet metal blanks and will be inexpensive tomanufacture.

A further aim of the invention is to provide a caster in which thesocket and the pintle are both of hollow form and are stamped orotherwise formed from sheet metal blanks, and incidentally to so formthese elements of the caster as to obviate any appreciable friction.

The caster embodying the present invention includes, among otherelements, a socket, which is, as above stated, tubular, and this sockethas stamped from it a resilient tongue which has frictional engagementwith a reduced portion-ofthe pintle of the caster and serves to retainthe pintle in the socket, there being arranged wlt-hin the socket also abearing ball which is normally at the upper end of the socket and aainst which the upper end of the pintle ears,

this ball being retained in the socket when the pintle is removedtherefrom, by the spring-tongue above referred to.

In the accompanying drawings :-'-Figure 1 is a vertical sectional viewthrough the caster constructed in accordance with the present invention,the same being shown as-, sembled with a chair or similar furniture leg.Fig. 2 is a perspective view of the pintle member of the caster, aportion of the lower carrying head thereof being shown in conditionbefore being completed. Fig. 3

is a view in perspective of the socket member of the caster. Fig. 4 is alan view of the blank from which the pintle member is formed. Fig. 5 isa similar view of the blank from which the socket member is formed.

In the drawings the blank from whichthe socket member is formed is shownas having a body portion, indicated by the nuend of the blank. The bodyof the blank is then rolled to cylindrical form, and the projections 7are pressed so that they will form a hollow conoidal end, whichisindicated in-Fig. 3 of the drawings by the numeral 9. In this said Fig.3 of the drawings, and in Fig. 1, the shank of the socket member isindicated by the numeral 10. The widened portion 8 of the blank 6 isthen pressed into concavo-convex cup like form to afford a cup-likehead, which is indicated by the numeral 11, and axially from whichprojects the shank 10 of the socket member; The widened portion 8 of theblank above described forms only a portion ,of the head 11, inasmuch asaconcavo-convex cover. 7

blank isfitted upon the convex side of the headll. and is formed overthe edge of the same, as indicated by the numeral 12, thisblank beingindicated by the numeral. 13, and being formed axially with an opening14, which registers with the lower end of the shank 10. In assemblingthe socket member of the caster with a furniture leg, the shank 10 isinsertedin the usual bore in the end of the leg, and the head 11 at thelower end of the shank will then have its concavity presented upwardlyand will bear at its edge against the lowerend of the said furnitureleg, as clearly shown in Fig. 1 of the drawings. For a purpose whichwill be presently explained, the shank 10- is stamped with'an lntegralresilient tongue 15, which is sprung inwardly and is indentedas at 16inwardly of its free extremity.

The roller-carrying member of the caster embodies a roller-carryinghead, which is formed from a blank havin a mid portion indicated by thenumeral 1 and wings 18 which roject from the lateral edges of the saidmid portion and are bent downwardly as shown in Fig. 2 of the drawings,and have rotatably mounted between them a roller, indicated by thenumeral 19. From the other edges of the mid portion of the head blankthere project integral wings indicated by the numeral 20, and thesewings are formed in their outer edges each with a notch 21, for apurpose which will be pres- ,entlyexplained. In addition to therollercarrying head, the pintle member of the caster embodies a pintleproper which ismdicated-by the numeral 22, and, intermediate of itsends, is formed with a reduced portion indicated by the numeral 23-.TlllS pintle is formed from a blank substantially as shown in Fig. 4 ofthe drawings, the blank being in the form of an oblong strip having itsintermediate portion narrowed, as indicated by the numeral 24. Informing up this blank, the portions to each side of this narrowedportion 24 are stamped into substantially semi cylindrical form, and theblank is then folded upon itself at its said narrowed portion 24, tobring the edges of the semi-cylindrical portion into mutual engagement,whereby a cylindrical shank will be afforded.

The end portions of the blank are not pressed into semi-cylindricalform, as stated above, in referring to the portions to each side of thenarrowed portion, but retain their fiat form, and are bent to extend atright angles tothe axis of the pintle, as is clearly shown in Fig. 2 ofthe drawings and indicated by the numeral 25. In assembling the pintlewith the roller-carryin head, the lower end of the pintle is disposewith its wings 25, flat upon the mid portion 17 of the head, and theleaves or wings 20 are then folded over to confine the wings 25 betweenthem and the said mid portion of the'head, the notches 21 in the meetingedges of the wings 2O aifordin a circular opening through which thepintle shank projects. The reduced portion .23 of the pintle'shank isformed by pressing the intermediate portion of the said shank,- .afterit has been formed up from the blank, as will be readily understood. i

A bearing-ball 26 is inserted into the socket and normally seats at theupper hollow conoidal end thereof, and this ball affords a bearing forthe upper end of the pintle shank, as will be apparent from aninspection of Fig. 1 of the drawings. It will be observed that when thepintle is inserted into the socket of the socket member, the springtongueof this member will seat in, the reduced portion of the shank ofthe pintle member, and such engagement of the tongue in the reducedportion will result in the pintle being frictionally retained in thesocket. It will further be observed that this tongue projects into thesocket to such a degree as to retain the ball 26 therein when the pintleis removed.

It will further be understood from the foregoing description of theinvention that the casters may be cheaply manufactured from sheet. metalblanks, of simple form, and that, as a matter of fact, they will be muchmore durable than casters having cast iron parts, which are extremelyliable to become broken.

What is claimed is I 1. In a caster, a socket member formed from a sheetmetal blank, the body of which has parallel edges, the said blank at oneend being formed with curved edge extensions cut to afford a conoidalupper end, the blank at the other end being widened and formed into aconcavo-convex head at the lower end of said socket member.

2. In a caster, a socket member formed from a sheet metal blank, thebody of which has parallel edges, the blank at one end having portionsso formed as to afford a convex upper end, the lower end of the blankbeing widened and struck back, whereby to afford a conoavo-convex headfrom the concave face of which the said socket roper projects axially,and a cover blank ormed over the convex face of said head and providedwith an openin registering with the lower end of the soc et proper.

3. In a caster, a socket member and a pintle member comprising aroller-carrying head having its mid portion formed with integral leaves,and a pintle proper having wings at its lower end disposed against thesaid mid portion of the rollercarrying head, the leaves of the headbeing folded over to confine the wings of the pintle therebetween andthe said mid portion of the head.

4. In a caster, a socket member, and a pintle member, the said pintlemember comprising a roller-carrying head formed from a sheet metal blankhaving lateral wings dwnbent to afford portions between which the rolleris mounted, the blank having leaves extending from its upper edges, anda tubu-, lar sheet metal pintle formed from a sheet metal blank bentupon itself at a point midway of its ends and havingits portion to eachside of its middle stamped to substantially semi-cylindrical form, thesaid portions at their extremities having angularly projecting wingsdisposed against the upper face of the blank, the leaves of the blank ofthe head being folded over to confine the wings at the lower end oithepintle.

In testimony that I claim the foregoing as my own, I have hereto aflixedmy signature in the resence of two witnesses.

' ED IN HALL HUMPHREY. Witnesses: ELLA O. Woon,

IL. VAN TASSEL.

